June 27, (THEWILL) – There was palpable excitement among tennis fans ahead of the commencement of Wimbledon on Monday, June 28, over the announcement from Nick Kyrgios that he was teaming up with tennis veteran Venus Williams to play mixed doubles at the All England Club.
Earlier last week, Kyrgios went on Twitter to call for suggestions from his followers about a female player he should play mixed with at the upcoming Grand Slam. His revelation suggests the 41-year-of Williams was the overwhelming favourite in the informal poll.
Obviously pleased with how it all turned out and having confirmed Williams’ acceptance to team up, Kyrgios declared at a pre-tournament press conference on Saturday that the both of them will be “The mixed doubles pairing of the tournament.”
THEWILL recalls that in 2017, while responding to a question about who she would rather have as a dream mixed-doubles partner, the older of the Williams sisters had said: “I don’t know, I think it’d be fun to play with Nick Kyrgios.”
As her 4-year-old wish is on the verge of reality, Kyrgios is getting an ideal and experienced mixed doubles partner. So far, Venus has won 24 doubles titles in her career of which two are in the mixed doubles category at the Australian Open and French Open in 1998, though she was a runner-up at the 2006 Wimbledon major.
The five-time Wimbledon singles winner, Venus also has six doubles titles with sister Serena while Kyrgios has previously played mixed doubles with Amanda Anisimova at the Australian Open in 2020 and Desirae Krawczyk at Wimbledon in 2019.
Tennis fans have expectedly reacted in a frenzy on social media with the revelation and the prospect of seeing Kyrgios and Venus in action together in the mixed doubles event at Wimbledon.
THEWILL reported earlier in the month that Williams featured in the doubles event at Roland Garros when she accepted Coco Gauff’s invitation to team up after an injury to Gauff’s usual doubles partner, Caty McNally, ahead of the Slam in Paris.
However, the dream pairing of 17-year-old Gauff and 41-year-old Williams, which was a generational thrill for tennis fans, ended as abruptly as it came alive after they lost in the first round of the French Open women’s doubles draw to Ellen Perez and Saisai Zheng, in three sets 6-7(5) 6-4 6-3 as they failed to build from winning the first.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
